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Our Living Lands is a collaboration of the Mountain West News Bureau, Koahnic Broadcast Corporation and Native Public Media.

‘Way of Life’: Protecting Indigenous lands and culture from invasive species

Several people are bent over picking weeds in a marshy area in front of a lake
NAFWS
Fish and wildlife officials from many tribes met in California in 2024 to discuss challenges they face with invasive species management. As part of a workshop near Clear Lake in Calif., they learned techniques for removing an invasive plant called water primrose and electrofishing to catch invasive carp.

Invasive species are among the biggest drivers of biodiversity losses around the world. They’re also increasingly affecting tribal lands, and climate change is making it worse.

The Mountain West News Bureau's Rachel Cohen spoke with Mitzi Reed, an enrolled citizen of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians who also leads the Native American Fish and Wildlife Society’s invasive species program, about how she works with tribes on invasive species challenges — from freshwater mussels to plants like water primrose.

"[Invasive species] are not just affecting our lands or what we can see, it's affecting our past, our traditions, what our ancestors tried to thrive for us," she said. "It threatens all of that, too."

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